The final chapter
I have now finished my 4th assignment and working through Project 5: The final image. Since this part of the course consists of just 2 exercises, I’m aware that the final assignment will need to demonstrate what I have learned throughout DPP. Assignment 5 is a personal project in which I need to think about a subject and treatment for which I have an enthusiasm for. The very thought of this helps me to realise just how much I’ve learnt. At the moment I don’t know whether to focus on monochrome, remove or add elements from an image. I am planning on taking time to reflect on what I have covered during the course. During this time I’ll also decide whether it’s the subject or the treatment I choose first.
DFP or P&P? That is the question.
Whilst starting the final project in DPP, The Final Image, I am naturally thinking what next. My photo editing has greatly improved and I understand more now about what happens when I move sliders and adjust layers in Photoshop. My workflow has become more organised and I give myself more time to reflect on the entire process before producing each final image. Also, working on DPP has shown me how much I’ve learnt and been able to apply from TAOP to my assignments. DPP has been concentrated on what happens once the image has been captured, so I have had to use my prior learning to compose shots which are aesthetically pleasing. For anyone reading this blog who is thinking about using the OCA route to achieve photographic qualifications, I would strongly recommend studying The Art of Photography before Digital Photographic Practice, although for anyone wanting to study just one course in isolation then either could be followed.
So what next? As part of my photography degree I have one more level 4 course to work through, and this is where I’m unsure where to go next. People & Place is the most common module to follow in the series of level 4 courses. Looking further ahead I can see how P&P will provide the basis of knowledge and understanding for the later level 5 courses, Social Documentary and Landscape. However another route is to take a slight detour and study Digital Film Production: creative concepts instead. My 7D has a full HD video facility that I rarely use and really could get more use out of. With rapidly developing web technology and mobile devices it would be wise for photographers to keep up to date with both photography and videography. I have been lucky enough to film a number of weddings, shows and events by teaching myself, so to have a structured course to follow would be really supportive. I’m still unsure what to do next, but I’ve got a few months yet before I need to make a decision.
21/1/12 update: after looking through my course file I’ve just noticed that I have another option, to skip the final level 4 course and study all 3 of the level 5 modules. This is very tempting and something that I’m going to consider since I like the sound of all 3 modules.
What you see is what you get.
My last few blog posts have been about the ethics of image manipulation. As I think more about this my own views appear to be being manipulated into accepting some forms of image altering. I have just finished what will be my submission for Assignment 4: Real or fake. The dark winter nights have persuaded me to get ahead of myself with DPP, as I am nearly ready to submit Assignment 3: Monochrome to my tutor. Assignment 4 involved me ‘rebuilding Pompeii’, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It helped me to see how image manipulation can enable us to envisage what places may have been like by altering them digitally instead of physically.
This course is enabling me to understand that whilst there is a line between image manipulation and reality preservation, it is sometimes ok to cross that line…within reason!
This project has led me to ask the question, do all photographers manipulate their photographs? Before closing the shutter the photographer is able to manipulate the image by choosing the focus and the area to keep in the viewfinder. What about the surrounding area that isn’t part of the final image? A change of position and angle can enable a photographer to purposely leave out unwanted elements such as chimneys, other people, waste etc. Also the chosen time to take a photograph can influence the outcome of a photograph.
Written works are often read with some caution, with an acknowledgement of its author’s viewpoint. There’s something personal about reading something that another person has written and their opinion can be understood. However a photograph can communicate so many different meanings that it can be misinterpreted by the viewer. Many people look at a picture with a ‘What you see is what you get’ kind of an attitude. They don’t delve deeper beyond the surface layer. Therefore whilst image manipulation does have its critics the viewer should bear some of the responsibility to consider a photograph critically, as they would with any kind of media.
The cleaner side of photo manipulation!
With all the controversy and ethics surrounding photo-manipulation, there is a very useful aspect to it. Whilst visiting Cadiz I came across this wall covered with graffiti.
With just a bit of elbow grease and clone stamp this wall has been cleaned up a treat. If only it was that simple outside the digital world!
Cleaned up wall
Time of the Signs
The funny wording of signs and the juxtaposition of signs with other subjects is something that has always appealed to me. I like how they can be intelligent, funny and thought provoking. Four years ago I opened a Flickr account and from an early stage I set up an album titled ‘Time of the Signs’ to upload any strange or funny occurrences of signs. The photo that was the inspiration for this set was of a sign that said ‘Slow, children’. It was taken on a school residential visit walking in Osmotherley. The photo appealed to the context of the situation of a class of children taking their time walking across a rugged field. As one of my first photos, as an interested photographer, it reminds me just how much I have developed my own visual language. If I was taking the same photo again I might have some indication of the children in the shot with the sign, maybe in the distance. I took the ‘Parking Fine’ photo (above) at Staithes. I was drawn by the irony and the blatant rule breaking. During TAOP I learnt about juxtaposition and how two subjects can interact with each other within the frame.
My motivation for writing this post comes from having come across Niall Benvie’s website. One of his albums showcases photographs where he has made signs and put them in situations which gives added meaning to the surrounding scene. I can see how this could be a possible area I could research and adapt for my 5th assignment. I can envisage there being many opportunities to manipulate images and give them a voice.
Deconstructing Reality
I saw this article this morning on the Guardian’s website. It shows a photograph that has been so clearly manipulated it’s hard to believe it was cleared to be published!
Source: Guardian Website
The photograph showed three officials from Huili, in south-west China, inspecting a new road construction. However it is very clear that with the lack of any shadow, the men appear to be hovering over the road. Even more bizarrely there was an original image showing the men inspecting the road, but the photographer felt it wasn’t good enough to be used. This serves as a reminder that while it is all to easy nowadays for photographers to rely on post processing editing, time and skill is needed to produce something that could be considered as being reality.
Whilst this image is said to have been a combination of two photographs documenting a scenario that actually happened, it has been so poorly constructed that it looks as though this event had never even occurred.
The internet is littered with examples of bad photo-shopping to try to deceive people into thinking events happened or the way appearances have been altered. A photo may say 1000 words, but there are people who want to change those 1000 words. For example this image shows a meeting between the Syrian president meeting with the newly appointed governor of Hama. However the lack of shadow detail and differences in scale of the two subjects makes the image suspicious. These blatantly fake images make me think about all of those successfully photoshopped images that lead us to believe things that aren’t true. How many images are there out there in the news and in magazines that we have accepted as being ‘real’? Cutting, pasting and pushing pixels around the screen is overstepping / leaping the boundary of what is ethically acceptable. Surely photographers have a responsibility to be honest.
Shopped Photos
Having just started Project 4: Reality and intervention I was wondering what photos were some of the most outrageously manipulated. I began searching the internet and was shocked to find out that some of the earliest photo-shopped images were created before Photoshop was even thought of. In 1860 the image of Abraham Lincoln (left) was created from the body of John Calhoun (right).
Image Manipulation
It was very surprising to find that image manipulation happened such a long time ago. It’s even more impressive that they were accomplished and very convincing with no digital technology.
Image manipulation was also a key element in war propaganda. The photograph below shows Yezhov (right) deleted from the photograph with Stalin (left) after his execution in 1940.
1930: With photos of missing drug Stalinom water transport Yezhov, who was dismissed from his post
At an early stage images were being manipulated to either persuade or deceive viewers. They were also being altered to improve the telling of a story or to make a subject more favourable. For example this scene of Mussolini on horseback (below) was altered by removing the man holding the horse, making the dictator look more formidible and capable.
The more I research image manipulation the more I question what is real and what is fake in the same way that has also led to people coming up with conspiracy theories for events that did or didn’t happen.
A picture’s worth….
Andreas Gursky Rhine II
Yesterday at Christie’s auction house in New York Andreas Gursky became £2.7m richer after selling his Rhine II photograph. At first glance I was dumb-founded to see how an image of some grass, sky, water and a path could be the most expensive photograph in the world. With no clues to the location this image could have been taken anywhere. It made me wonder if I had a picture worth a fortune gathering dust on my hard drive. However after a little more research I started to consider the meaning of Gursky’s 3m wide image and his intention.
“Paradoxically, this view of the Rhine cannot be obtained in situ, a fictitious construction was required to provide an accurate image of a modern river.” (Gursky)
Gursky digitally manipulated the image to produce a contemporary view of the Rhine. To know that he had removed elements of the scene makes it all the more interesting because it is something I had not thought of. Usually images are manipulated to enhance them, not minimise the subject. Deletion is something I will be thinking about whether to use in Assignment 4.
Before seeing this image I had never thought about the monetary value of a photograph. I suppose this is because there is usually a one-off original piece of art work in more traditional works, such as sculpture and painting, whereas digital images are replicated so often that they can be common place. I started to think about what are the most expensive photographs. The Telegraph website has provided a list here, with Gursky now occupying 2 of the slots.
Camera School
Today I started a photography club at the school I teach at, for children aged between 7 and 11. Throughout our KS2 the children get to choose from a variety of clubs, including knitting, football, baking and yoga. It was great to find that 10 children had chosen to join my photography club. The children were so enthusiastic that a number of them have asked Santa for a camera for Christmas! Having to think about what to teach the children has helped me to reflect on what I’ve learnt during my time as an OCA student. To get the children sraight into taking photos we looked at the autumn leaves, encouraging the children to take photos from a variety of different viewpoints. As the course progresses I hope to include some of the photos my club has captured.
